Smorgasbord Spirituality

From Messiah Lutheran Church's October 2011 Newsletter

When I was a child, I used to love going out to eat with my grandparents at a local Scandinavian restaurant that served a “smorgasbord.” If you’re not familiar with that term, it’s basically a buffet. Sort of like going to the Golden Corral or other similar eateries. You can pick and choose what you want to eat. Don’t like broccoli? Forget about it. Move on to the baked beans! Don’t like ham? Who cares? Have a slab of roast beef! Or, if you are really feeling rebellious, skip everything and head right to the desserts. There’s pie, cake, pudding, cookies, strudel … whatever suits your taste buds.

Many people act as though their spiritual lives are like bellying up to a smorgasbord. They prefer to pick and choose whatever they want to believe. They sift through all the various world religions and select that which resonates with them as good and proper or that which makes them feel good. And this is not just limited to those who do not classify themselves as Christian.

A recent article in USA Today stated

The folks who make up God as they go are side-by-side with self-proclaimed believers who claim the Christian label but shed their ties to traditional beliefs and practices. Religion statistics expert George Barna says, with a wry hint of exaggeration, America is headed for "310 million people with 310 million religions."

"We are a designer society. We want everything customized to our personal needs — our clothing, our food, our education," he says. Now it's our religion…

More people claim they have accepted Jesus as their savior and expect to go to heaven.

And more say they haven't been to church in the past six months except for special occasions such as weddings or funerals. In 1991, 24% were "unchurched." Today, it's 37% .

Barna blames pastors for those oddly contradictory findings. Everyone hears, "Jesus is the answer. Embrace him. Say this little Sinners Prayer and keep coming back. It doesn't work. People end up bored, burned out and empty," he says. "They look at church and wonder, 'Jesus died for this?'"…

Barna laments, "People say, 'I believe in God. I believe the Bible is a good book. And then I believe whatever I want.'"

(http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/story/2011-09-14/america-religious-denominations/50376288/1)

The article goes on to feature one individual who combines elements of religions that are mutually exclusive, yet still somehow calls herself a Christian. It also talks about others who have jettisoned their faith in Christ altogether after drifting in and out of assorted religious traditions.

You and I probably know someone like the folks mentioned in this article. How can we communicate to them the richness and depth of true Christianity without leaving them “bored, burned out and empty”? How can we make clear to them the exclusive nature of the claims of Christ (e.g. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” – John 14:6) without coming across as a self-righteous prig? How can we explain the difference between works-righteousness and the righteousness of Christ that is received as a gift of grace? How can we tell them that all that they truly need (whether they recognize that need or not) is truly found within the fellowship of the Holy Christian Church? How can we show love and mercy to one another so that those outside the Church do not look at us and say, “Jesus died for this?” These are questions we need to carefully ponder as we seek to proclaim Christ and his life and forgiveness to those who are “darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to the hardness of their heart” (Eph. 4:18) … those who are “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine” (Eph. 4:14).

All efforts to have some kind of spirituality apart from Christ alone are futile, because they are man’s own efforts to seek God and find him … or efforts to avoid his Law which condemns them. True spirituality acknowledges that we are spiritually dead and can do nothing to save ourselves, to draw closer to God, to find him somehow (Eph. 2:1). True spirituality acknowledges that God is the one who has sought us and found us, like the shepherd who goes off to find the one lost sheep (Luke 15). True spirituality is pure receptivity … receiving that which God offers to us as a gift because of the death and resurrection of his Son (Eph. 2:8-10; 1 Cor. 4:7).

In Christ’s service and yours,
Pastor Onken

Lutheran conversion testimonies

Here's Gene Veith plugging a new book by Seattle resident and my friend Jim Pierce.

Some may consider that phrase a contradiction in terms. But a new book contains the stories of various people who converted to Christianity as proclaimed in Lutheranism. It's called Wittenberg Confessions: Testimonies of Converts to Confessional Lutheranism, by Jim Pierce, Edited by Elaine Gavin. I mention it in particular because it includes accounts from some of the readers and commentators on this blog, such as author Jim Pierce (former atheist and just about everything else you could name) and Kelly Klages ... You can buy the book, from the wonderfully-named new publisher Blue Pomegranate Press, by clicking here.

And to whet your appetite a bit more, here is the description of the book from Blue Pomegranate Press' own website...

The institutional church is drifting further and further from the historic liturgy and the proclamation of the pure Gospel. It is devolving into a pop culture version of the faith that emphasizes "feel good" worship over the historic liturgy and tolerance over the truth of the pure Gospel. But all is not lost. Internet blogs like the Brothers of John the Steadfast and radio programs like Issues, Etc. and Pirate Christian Radio are being used by God to raise up a new generation of committed believers.

Wittenberg Confessions presents the testimony of eight of these new converts to Confessional Lutheranism. Reading these testimonies of what God has done in these lives will give you hope that Christ continues to build His Holy, Catholic Church, despite man's foibles in the institutional church.

Jim Pierce is a layman from Seattle, Washington. He wrote the introduction and conclusion and also organized the other essayists. He leads off the collection of essays with his own odyssey of faith. He voyaged away from Pentecostalism into atheism and is now at peace as a Confessional Lutheran at Messiah Lutheran Church in the north Seattle neighborhood. Elaine Gavin edited the collection. She is a lifelong confessional Lutheran. She is a member of Bethany Lutheran Church, Naperville, Illinois.

Critique of Beth Moore from "Fighting for the Faith"

Beth Moore has become a very popular "Bible" teacher. I put "Bible" in quotation marks because her interpretations of Holy Scripture are questionable, if not downright heretical. Her materials have even found their way into some LCMS churches. Listen to Chris Rosebrough's important and urgent critique by clicking on the player below.

Free apologetics resource: Behold I Stand at the Door and Knock

There are plenty of fine books out there dealing with ways to answer the doctrines of Mormonism and Jehovah's Witnesses. Some are more thorough than others. The more thorough ones can be rather technical and overwhelming for lay people.

However, I recently ran across this excellent resource on the web, entitled Behold I Stand at the Door and Knock: What to say to Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses when they knock at your door. It is a pdf file of a book written by Michael Licona, a New Testament historian, author, and Christian apologist. You can click on the link and download it and print it out if you wish ... and all for FREE. It's only 52 pages, but deals with some of the key issues you will face when dealing with the false teachings of Mormonism and the Watchtower Society.

Helpful comment re: 90 Minutes in Heaven

Here's what my friend Jim Pierce commented over on the Wittenberg Trail about my review of 90 Minutes in Heaven:

I think the story of Lazarus and the Rich man holds a key biblical insight on this topic.

"And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’" —Luke 16:24-26 ESV

Jesus is pretty clear in pointing out that those who "pass from here" are not able to come back over once they have died. I don't see any way around our Lord's words. So, I think you are correct with your assessment that such stories are explained physiologically and/or psychologically. Since the soul may not "cross over" once it is in heaven, or hell, then that must mean this man didn't really die and we must find another explanation for his experience.

Thanks, Jim! Good stuff!

90 Minutes in Heaven … But How Do I Get There?

I just finished reading 90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper. It tells the story of a Baptist pastor who dies in a car accident, supposedly goes to heaven, and comes back again to tell the story.

It's not easy to argue about the subjective, personal experiences that people have, especially when they seem so real to the person who had those experiences. Piper himself admits that he is skeptical about the near-death experiences that some people have had. Yet, he asserts that he “knows” that he really went to heaven. My firm belief is that all near-death experiences can be explained physiologically and psychologically. I base that on the information in another book I have read entitled If I Should Wake Before I Die: The Biblical and Medical Truth about Near-Death Experiences, by H. Leon Greene. Greene is a cardiologist and professor of medicine who is also a Christian.

It is necessary to always judge everything we hear on the basis of Holy Scripture. When we do so with Piper's book, there are some things that make me uncomfortable.

For example, Piper tells about his friend Dick who happens upon the scene of the accident. As the story goes, God tells Dick to go pray for the dead man in the car. “Dick prayed me back to earth,” Piper asserts. However, nowhere are we told in Scripture that we are to pray for the dead. Certainly, we read accounts in the Bible of the prophets, the apostles, and our Lord himself raising people from the dead. But it is doubtful whether prayer for the dead is something that is approved of by virture of those accounts.

Piper's description of heaven is similar in some ways to St. John's vision in Revelation. However, the bulk of the book is a description of his recovery from the accident and the suffering he endured. I don't mean to downplay Piper's suffering. I'm sure it was a painful and depressing process. He writes of the ways in which the story of his recovery has been encouraging to others, and I can see how that would be the case. He also describes the diligent prayer and compassionate care that was offered on his behalf by so many people during his recovery. That part of the story is indeed inspiring.

Yet I was surprised that for all the talk about the author's suffering there was so little talk of Christ's suffering at the cross. Piper even says that during his time in heaven “[n]one of the hymns that filled the air were about Jesus' suffering and death. I heard no sad songs and instinctively knew that there are no sad songs in heaven.” Yet the vision that St. John saw and the hymns he heard are full of references to Christ's sacrifice: “I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain” (Rev. 5:6) … “you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God” (Rev. 5:9) … “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain” (Rev. 5:12) … “They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:14) … “they have conquered him [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 12:11). Piper assumes that hymns about Christ's death are sad songs, but those are instead truly joyful songs, for the death of Christ on behalf of sinners is the basis of our salvation.

What was also missing from the book was talk of the resurrection on the Last Day. The Bible has much more to say about the resurrection to eternal life for believers in Christ than it does about what heaven will be like. That is our Christian hope. Piper seems to place more emphasis on the reality of heaven than on the death and resurrection of Christ, and as a Christian pastor – even one who claims to have gone to heaven – you'd think he'd know better.

And that's my biggest beef with the book. Piper writes, “I now feel an urgency about helping people open their lives so they can be assured of going to heaven.” Yet he never quite gets around to telling people exactly how they can be assured of going to heaven. He does refer to Jesus as Savior, but a Savior from what? Christians who read this book can assume that the author means that Jesus is their Savior from “sin, death, and hell.” But non-Christians who read it (and as a New York Times bestseller you can bet many did) will not have a clear idea of why they need a Savior or how they can have the forgiveness of sins and eternal life from this Savior. I can only hope and pray that those who did read the book found their way to a church which clearly proclaims the Gospel message, something that 90 Minutes in Heaven fails to do.

"Chuckling in the Shack" from The Ship of Fools

Another interesting review of The Shack. Click here to read it over at The Ship of Fools.

One of the many reasons why we support Issues, Etc.

Click below to read a recent post at the Brothers of John the Steadfast website...

http://ping.fm/fCNTX

New Issues, Etc. Promo

Another review of "The Shack"

I'm finally getting around to reading this book after reading numerous reviews. Click here to read another review by my good friend Pastor Todd Peperkorn.

From Atheist to Christian

Read about it by clicking here.

HT: Cyberbrethren

The "CAnniversary" of Issues, Etc. at Stand Firm

My friend Scott Diekmann, author of the blog Stand Firm, has big plans for next week. Next week is the anniversary of the cancellation of the "original" Issues, Etc. show. Scott has invited guest bloggers to offer their insights on his blog regarding the cancellation of the show and it’s re-emergence on Pirate Christian Radio. The week will be filled with their thoughts, plus a variety of audio and visual treats. So be sure to click on over to Stand Firm next week.

"Brother, when were you saved?"

My short answer to that question is usually twofold: 1) Over two-thousand years ago on a cross outside of Jerusalem on a particular Friday we call "Good," and 2) May 2, 1965 when my parents brought me to the font and I was baptized in the name of the Triune God. Needless to say, I'm usually met with blank stares from the questioner, since said questioner is expecting me to give such and such a date when "I gave my heart to Jesus" or some such nonsense (refer back to yesterday's post quoting Bo Giertz).

Pastor Juan Palm at Palm Sundays blogged about this, and here's what he had to say about a certain professor's answer:

I know a theology professor who was once asked if he had a "personal relationship with Jesus as Lord and Savior." He replied (rather cheekily in order to cut off any further interrogation), "I have Jesus as my Lord and Savior as he comes to me mediated through the Word and Sacraments in His Church, but personally I never met the fellow."

Then, Pastor Palm quotes Pastor Bill Cwirla, who gives a much more thorough answer to the question "Brother, when were you saved?" This is also great stuff for those who wonder about how the doctrine of election fits in here. Rather than bringing uncertainty, the doctrine of election ought instead to bring comfort. Here's Cwirla:

... The best way to approach the “when” question is to note the distinction between the two modes of time: Chronos and Kairos. Chronos, or chronological time, is time as we experience it - evening and morning, clocks and calendars, one event followed by another in sequence. This is the way of history. Kairos is eternal moment, all time compressed into a single point, what some might call “eternity.” Kairos is God’s time, where every moment embraces all of chronological time so that God says “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” long after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are chronologically dead. Only as we understand kairos, can we understand Christ’s sacrifice as being “once for all” (Romans 6:10; Hebrews 9:12,26; 10:10; 1 Peter 3:10) meaning that this atoning death on a Friday afternoon embraces all people and all times...

Back to the question “When were you saved?” Answer: It depends how you look at it and why you are asking. Kairotically speaking, I was saved in Christ “from before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4). Don’t leave out the “in Christ” or you’ll get it wrong. There is no “election” apart from the Elect One, the Lamb who was slain “before the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). This is the doctrine of election, which can only be understood properly “in Christ” (see Ephesians 1:3-14) and in kairos, outside of chronological time.

Played out in the chronos of salvation history, salvation is past, present, and future. Chronologically and objectively speaking, I was saved in Christ, am being saved in Christ, and will be saved in Christ. I was saved at 3 PM on that Good Friday some two thousand years ago when the incarnate Son of God hung dead on the cross from the forgiveness of my sins, embracing me in His death. “When I am lifted up, I will draw all men to myself.” (John 12:32).

I was saved when I was baptized, having been buried with Christ in His death (Rom 6:4) and clothed with the righteousness of Christ (Galatians 3:27). Through the work of the Holy Spirit’s washing of water with the Word by which He rebirths and renews us daily, I received the gift of faith by which I am able to enjoy and put to use the objective and forensic gift of salvation every breathing moment of my life. I would also note here that because salvation is a forensic act of God in that God declares the sinner to be righteous, it is also a sacramental act of God in that God baptizes the sinner declaring him to be dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Again, don’t forget the “in Christ” or you will get it wrong.

I am being saved whenever I hear the spoken Word of Christ forgiving my sin and receive that Word of Christ as being for me through trust (ie faith). “Now is the time (kairos) of your salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). This is the ongoing work of Baptism, daily drowning the sinner to death and raising the saint in Christ to life.

I will be saved at the coming judgment according to the promise of Christ, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mark 16:16)....

February Newsletter Article

Lutherans: Confessional

Over the last few months, we have been discussing how to answer the question “What does it mean to be a Lutheran?” Thus far, we have answered that question using the words evangelical, catholic, and sacramental. This month’s word is confessional.

When you ask some Christians what they believe, they might say something like this: “I believe the Bible.” Sounds good, right? Only one problem. There are many churches and non-Christian cults that use the Bible as their source of religious beliefs, yet they come to different conclusions about central doctrines of the Christian faith.

Similarly, some Christian churches pride themselves on not using any man-made creeds in order to summarize their beliefs. “No creed but Christ,” they might say. Ironically, these same churches probably have some kind of “statement of faith” which they publish. That becomes their “creed” whether they realize it or not. After all, the word creed simply comes from the Latin word credo, which means “I believe.”

Lutherans have the advantage of having a set of documents which summarize what makes someone a Lutheran. These documents are the “Lutheran Confessions,” as they are called, and are contained in The Book of Concord or Concordia of 1580. The first of these documents are the historic, ecumenical creeds (Apostles’, Nicene, Athanasian), placed there to show that the Lutherans at the time of the Reformation were not trying to teach anything other than what the ancient church believed and taught. Other than the creeds, Luther’s Small Catechism of 1529 is probably the most familiar of the Lutheran Confessions. It is important to note, also, that we do not place The Book of Concord on the same level of Scripture. The Bible is our only source and norm for our faith and our life. It alone is divinely inspired. Yet, we still declare that The Book of Concord is a true exposition of what God’s Word teaches.

Sadly, some contemporary Lutherans do not hold the Lutheran Confessions in such high regard. They believe that they are important historical documents, but it is not necessary to pledge unconditional agreement with them. On the contrary, our LC-MS pastors are expected to subscribe unconditionally to the Lutheran Confessions in their ordination vows. “Confessional” Lutherans believe in the importance of making an unconditional subscription to the Lutheran Confessions because they are an accurate and truthful exposition of the Word of God. Other Lutherans will say that they hold to the Confessions in so far as they agree with Holy Scripture. But that is really not much of a confession. It leaves the door open to one’s own private interpretations based on subjective feelings, rather than a bold, clear, united confession of faith given to the world, as was the original intent of the Lutheran Confessions.

The Book of Concord closes with these words, and sums up what it means to be a “confessional” Lutheran: “In the sight of God and of all Christendom, we want to testify to those now living and those who will come after us. This declaration presented here about all the controverted articles mentioned and explained above – and no other – is our faith, doctrine, and confession. By God's grace, with intrepid hearts, we are willing to appear before the judgment seat of Christ with this Confession and give an account of it [1 Peter 4:5]. We will not speak or write anything contrary to this Confession, either publicly or privately. By the strength of God's grace we intend to abide by it.” (Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration, Article XII, paragraph 40)

In Christ’s service and yours,
Pastor Onken

P.S. To read more about The Book of Concord, go online at bookofconcord.org. You may read the Confessions online there along with helpful articles. Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions is also a wonderful edition for laypeople, with helpful explanatory introductions and notes. Cool pictures, too! Or you can get a handy-dandy pocket-sized edition (no pictures). Order online from CPH or call them at 1-800-325-3040.

Denominational Differences for Dummies

People often ask their pastors, "What's the difference between all the different denominations?" This is not an easy task, when you consider the plethora of church bodies out there. Wikipedia lists 80 different Baptist bodies in North America alone (and you thought the Lutherans couldn't get their act together)!

On a recent Issues, Etc. broadcast, Pastor Erik Rottmann did a nice job of answering this question by giving five different categories in which we can generally place all the assorted denominations. They are 1) Ancient churches (in which he includes confessional Lutherans), 2) Calvinist, 3) Arminian, 4) Anabaptist, and 5) Late-arrivals. To hear more about which churches he would place in each of these categories and how they are described, listen to the podcast by clicking the media player below.

Radio show and review of Rick Warren's "The Purpose of Christmas"

Click here to see the resources linked at Pastor Juan Palm's blog Palm Sundays.

Newsweek's Latest Cover Story

Newsweek and Time have not exactly proven to be fair to conservative, orthodox Christianity. Click here to read another example of this in a critique by Mollie Hemingway at GetReligion.org.

The Gospel for those Broken by the Church

I wish I'd had the chance to take classes from Rod Rosenbladt at Christ College Irvine (now Concordia, Irvine), but I was there such a brief time that I never had him as a prof. Thankfully, I've been able to hear him over the years on the White Horse Inn.

"The Gospel for those Broken by the Church" is a presentation of Rosenbladt's featured at New Reformation Press as an mp3 download. I've heard it advertised for a while now on Fighting for the Faith podcasts and finally decided to purchase it. It's only $3.45 and worth every penny. In today's church climate where sermons offer not much more than self-help, moralism, pop-psychology, and obscure the cross of Christ, Rosenbladt's presentation points the hearer back to Christ and his all-sufficient work at the cross for the salvation of sinners like you and me. Get this. Listen to it. Tell your friends about it. That's why I'm telling you about it here.

Photo of Rosenbladt found at A Bryan Photo.

Another Bible Translation

In principle, I don't have any problem with new English translations of the Bible. What I do have problems with is the crass marketing that often goes along with new translations, versions, or every time the Bible is re-packaged. It seems like there is an edition of the Bible for every imaginable age group, occupation, gender, ad nauseum.

Having said that, another "translation" of the Bible has been released, called "The Voice." It's not really a translation. It's actually a very (and I do mean "very") loose paraphrase.

Click here to read a brief post about "The Voice" by Pastor Palm on his Palm Sundays blog.

Click here to read a longer analysis by Chris Rosebrough at Extreme Theology.

November Newsletter Article

Lutherans: Catholic

Last month was the first in a series of articles to help you answer the question, “What does it mean to be a Lutheran?” We began by saying that Lutherans are “evangelical.” We use that word not in the way the rest of the world usually understands it. Most people think of Bible-believing conservative Christians when they hear the word “Evangelical.” Rather, to be “evangelical” as Lutherans is to be focused on the Gospel, the good news that Christ died for our sins and rose to life again, and that all who trust in his finished work at the cross have eternal life as a gift of grace. All that we do and say as Lutheran Christians revolves around and flows from that central truth.

This month our word is “catholic.” I can hear the cries of resistance already: “What? What do you mean we are catholic? I thought we broke away from the Catholic Church at the time of the Reformation.”

Well, first we need to remember that Luther never intended to “break away” from the Catholic Church. He was excommunicated. Secondly, there is a difference between the Roman Catholic Church and the “catholic” Church. The Roman Catholic Church is that church which recognizes the bishop of Rome, the Pope, as the head pastor of the Church with “full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, p. 234). The “catholic” Church, on the other hand, refers to the universal nature of the Church. That is, after all, the meaning of the word “catholic”: universal, the Church of all times and all places, the entire body of believers in Jesus Christ. It is taken directly from the Greek word katholikos, which means “whole” or “complete.”

If the Church is truly “catholic,” then what are the implications for us as Lutherans? It means that we do not claim to be nor teach anything other than what the Church has always taught when it has been faithful to the Scriptures. At the end of the first section of the Augsburg Confession, the primary document which defined what the Lutheran Church believes and teaches, it says, “As can be seen, there is nothing here that departs from the Scriptures or the catholic church or the church of Rome, in so far as the ancient church is known to us from its writers.” (Tappert, p. 47) That being said, the Augsburg Confession had clarified the beliefs of the Lutherans in contrast to Rome, in addition to addressing assorted abuses that had arisen and needed to be corrected.

To be “catholic” also means to be concerned with how the Church has worshiped in the past. We use historic forms of worship and hymns which show our connection to Christians who have gone before us. That doesn’t mean we do not add new songs to our “repertoire” written in the last 30 years or so, or which remain to be written. It does mean that we are careful to make sure that our new songs agree with the catholic faith, and that we don’t jettison the old simply for the sake of the new. Again, the Augsburg Confession says, “We on our part also retain many ceremonies and traditions (such as the liturgy of the Mass and various canticles, festivals, and the like) which serve to preserve order in the church.” (AC XXVI.40; Tappert, p. 69)

Being “catholic” also means being concerned about not only the universality of the Church but also the unity of the Church. It is a sad state of affairs that there are so many denominations and schisms. We should always be looking for ways to change this situation, but always on the basis of a common confession of what Holy Scripture teaches. We seek unity not for the sake of unity, but for the sake of the truth. That’s what the confessors who compiled the Book of Concord expressed when they wrote, “it was our intention to remain and abide loyally by the truth once recognized and confessed at Augsburg in the year 1530 ... and that other good-hearted people would have been reminded and stimulated by this our reiterated and repeated confession the more seriously to investigate the truth of the divine Word that alone gives salvation, to commit themselves to it, and for the salvation of their souls and their eternal welfare to abide by it and persist in it in a Christian way without any further disputation and dissension.” (Preface to the Book of Concord, Tappert, pp. 5-6) To this end, our Missouri Synod and her representatives are constantly seeking ways to confess the whole of Christian doctrine with other church bodies around the world. When it is discovered that we share a common confession of that doctrine, then altar and pulpit fellowship is declared. Missouri Synod Lutherans have often been accused of being separatistic, but that is simply not the case. We have always been interested in expressing the “catholic” nature of the Christian faith while maintaining a vigorous defense of the truth of God’s Word.

In Christ’s service and yours,

Pastor Onken